


Union

by Stormchild



Series: Young Rockstars [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 03:56:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4248447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormchild/pseuds/Stormchild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally knows he can’t live up to Barry’s legacy. But he loves playing guitar and that’s more than enough.<br/>Part of my rockstar AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Union

“Wait. You mean your uncle is  _the_  Barry Allen? As in Barry ‘The Flash’ Allen, one of the fastest guitar players in the world?” Dick asks.

They’ve been friends for months - maybe closer to a year - and this is the first time Dick has been over to Wally’s place. It’s  _way_ smaller than Wayne Manor, but Dick doesn’t seem to mind. He flits around like a small bird, all but chirping in interest at the pictures and knick knacks.

“ _The_  fastest,” Wally corrects with a proud grin.

There’s a guitar on the wall, red with a yellow lightning bolt painted on it and Barry’s signature scrawled across the bottom. Dick stares in awe.

“Can you play it?”

Wally shrugs. He’s not technically supposed to - the guitar is worth more than his left kidney - but he can.

“Let’s hear something!”

“I don’t know… I’m not very good. At least, I’m not as good as Uncle Barry.”

“Oh, come on. You can play  _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_  if that’s all you know.”

Wally wrinkles his nose.  _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_  his ass. He takes the guitar down and plugs it into the small amp he keeps under his bed, a product of months of saved allowance. Tuning only takes a second, and Wally does it by ear.

Dick doesn’t recognize the song, but his eyes widen behind his black sunglasses and his mouth falls open a little. That is definitely no beginner piece. It’s no Yngwie Malmsteen, but it’s still pretty damn good.

Wally actually manages to focus on something for more than a minute and twenty-eight seconds - his current average - and plays out the three minute song with the kind of attention his parents are always insisting he could have if he put his mind to it. He loses himself in what he’s doing, forgetting to make himself stand in one place while his fingers fly over the strings. He counts the beats in his head without fully realizing he does it anymore, timing each note with rapid precision.

He finishes playing and comes back to Earth with a jerk. Dick is applauding for a full three seconds before Wally even hears it.

“Dude! That was  _wicked_!”

“You think?” Wally asks, his face flushed.

“Am I not your most best friend in the world? Would I lie to you like that?”

Dick lets out a dramatic sigh and covers his heart with his hand.

Wally laughs and unplugs the amp. He needs to get the guitar back before his parents get home.

–

Roy’s sunglasses are even bigger and more ridiculous than Dick’s, but Wally likes them. They cool look on Roy. And at least he doesn’t wear them inside.

“Seriously, he keeps bribing me to get along with his 'girlfriends’ by buying me more cymbals. Not that I’m complaining. This girlfriend is all right, though.”

“Sounds just like Bruce,” Dick adds, “minus the cymbals. Apparently, him and  _Miss Kyle_  are opening up a wildcat sanctuary.”

“Wildcats is important, though.”

No-one bothers to correct Roy’s grammar. They almost suspect that it’s deliberate at this point but they leave it at that.

“I never said they weren’t. It’s just weird, is all.”

“There was a cougar outside Roy’s apartment this morning,” Kaldur says, speaking for the first time since he explained that he’d just come from a swim practice with the local swim team, the Titans. “I believe Roy wanted to pet it.”

“I didn’t. I just said it was cute,” Roy insists.

“What you said was, 'I want to pet the big, dumb kitty.’”

Roy shrugs.

“Oh- hey,” Dick says, as if he’d just remembered something he’d forgotten to say. “Did you guys know Wally plays the guitar?”

“Dick!”

“What? You do.”

Roy straightens up and pushes his glasses into his long hair.

“Dude,” he grins. “Does that make you Flash Jr? Flash Boy?”

Wally snorts. Dick had already teased him about it.

“Kid Flash.”

“Wally 'Kid Flash’ West. I like it. I call Kaldur Aqualad sometimes.”

Kaldur raises an eyebrow.

“ _Lad_?”

Roy kisses him, and he can’t really argue with that logic.

“You guys should come jam with us,” Roy suggests when he pulls away, his hand finding Kaldur’s.

“We have been looking for someone to play guitar, and maybe someone to sing?” Kaldur adds.

The second part is directed at Dick, who shrugs.

“I’m in. It sounds fun.”

Wally squirms a little. He’d already changed spots twice and he’s getting anxious from sitting in the same spot for so long.

“I dunno… It’s really Uncle Barry’s guitar… I’m not even supposed to play it.”

“I got an old one I don’t use,” Roy says. “You can have it. I’m shit at guitar anyway.”

Which means, of course, that he’ll buy Wally a used one and say it was his. Ollie gives him more money than he knows what to do with, but Wally would never accept him paying for anything more than lunch.

“Well- if you don’t use it… If Dick’s doing it, I’ll do it.”

“Great!” Dick says, clapping his hands together. “We are going to be the best garage band since… uhm…”

“The Melvins,” Roy supplies. “I think they started as a garage band. You know, Aqualad here writes some decent music. Very power metal.”

Kaldur rolls his eyes at the nickname, but his lip twitches into a smile.

“Somewhat power metal. Roy insists he is a thrash drummer.” (Roy throws up a raised index and pinky.) “I suppose a good deal of any genre it might be will come from you two.”

“No pressure,” Dick laughs.

–

They have their first session a week later. Wally suspects the guitar in his hands is newer than Roy claims, but he insists he only played it a few times. Wally decides to leave it at that. He finally has a guitar of his own.

His parents aren’t thrilled - they never wanted him to take up music - but they couldn’t exactly do much when Oliver Queen and his ward delivered it personally. And Barry offers to give him any lessons he wants, so it’s nothing out of their pockets. Barry even helps him paint it to match his own.

Kaldur’s bass is red and black. With Roy’s drumset in the same colors - which is no coincidence - Dick cracks up and giggles about how they look like a proper band.

To Wally, it feels more like a proper family.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this story, consider [buying me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/A0034VT) and supporting my original work.


End file.
